Ahmed Abu Shamla had worked at the French Consular Office in Gaza, within the French Institute and Cultural Center, since 2002. He died on Saturday, December 16, at the European Hospital where he had been admitted in serious condition. The house where he had taken refuge in the south of the territory after he had been forced to leave his home in the center of the Palestinian territory had been targeted by an Israeli bombardment on the evening of December 13.

"It is with great sadness that the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs has learned of the death of one of its agents, who died of injuries sustained during an Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip," the ministry said in a statement published on Saturday. The French authorities also "demanded that the Israeli authorities shed full light on the circumstances of this bombardment as soon as possible."

Two other staff members from the institute were in this Rafah house at the time of the strike. "A dozen members of the family of one of our agents also died in the bombing. It's horrible," explained a French diplomatic source, who emphasized the difficulty of reaching the Gaza Strip, subject to a total communications blackout. Paltel, the local telephone operator, again reported a complete blackout of telephone and Internet networks in recent days.

On the border with Egypt, the town of Rafah, to which the Israeli army is pushing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians officially for their own "safety," has been regularly hit by air raids and artillery fire.

Part of Abu Shamla's family had been able to leave Gaza for France, as part of the evacuation plan put in place by Paris for French nationals present in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian employees of the French Institute and their dependents. However, four of his adult children were not on the evacuation list and only Abu Shamla's wife and their two minor children were permitted to leave the enclave.

"We are undoubtedly the country that has paid the most attention to its local operators, and in particular the Palestinians," insisted a French diplomatic source. "There are a certain number of explicit criteria, elements that are common in different conflicts when it comes to evacuations. They generally concern French nationals and their dependents: spouses and children who are minors – adult children being by definition independent persons."

"For us, it's heartbreaking because we know everyone, including people who don't fit these criteria, and the ongoing situation in Gaza is horrific," added the diplomat. "Our staff at the French Institute, whatever their nationality – and most of them are Palestinians – were included in our list of people to be evacuated. Ahmed Abu Shamla had made the courageous and admirable decision to stay for his adult children."

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